« Responder #168 em: Outubro 05, 2017, 06:39:00 pm »
En Luanda en 1975
En Zaire:
A group of Portuguese pilots and ground crewman on the grounds of the ‘Château de la Morande’, France, June 1917.
The third man from the left is Lieutenant (later Captain) Óscar Monteiro Torres: the first pilot in the history of Portuguese Aviation to shoot down an enemy aircraft, and also the only Portuguese pilot to be shot down and die in aerial combat.
With the formation of a Portuguese Flying Corps suffering constant delays, Óscar Monteiro, together with two other pilots, moved to Great Britain in February 1916, where he attended a flying school at Hendon and later Northold.
After returning from Great Britain in June of the same year, he was sent to France were he first flew with a British Squadron, later joining the French Escadrille SPA 65, based at Soissons.
On November 19, 1917, while on patrol with another Portuguese pilot, Captain Lamy, they were attacked by two German aircraft between Dames and Laon. Captain Lamy, more experienced, managed to outmaneuver the attackers, but Monteiro was unable to evade the German airplanes and ended up being chased into German held territory.
In a combat witnessed by the people of Laon, Captain Monteiro engaged his pursuers, and making the most of his SPAD S.VII, managed to shoot down both: first a Halberstadt reconnaissance aircraft, and next a Fokker fighter. Moments later he is himself shot down by German ace Rudolf Windisch from Jasta 32, in what was Windisch’s sixth victory of the war.
Monteiro survived the forced landing but died from his wounds the next day, being later buried by the Germans with full military honors. It is believed that his SPAD was salvaged, repaired, and later flown by Windisch himself, although some doubts remain as to whether he flew it on operations.
From left to right: Chief-mechanic Alferes (Second Lieutenant) João Branco, followed by 4 pilots, Lieutenant António Maya, Lieutenant Monteiro Torres, Alferes Portela and Lieutenant Barbosa Leite. The remaining men are unknown mechanics and ground crewmen.
Original: Fond des Albums Valois (VAL 312/118)
